An investigation of ultrafast plasma dynamics in a GaAs infrared reflection switch

Author

Meyer, Jochen ; Elezzabi, Abdulhakem Y. ; Hughes, Michael K Y

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., British Columbia Univ., Vancouver, BC, Canada

Volume

31

Issue

7

fYear

1995

fDate

7/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1292

Lastpage

1301

Abstract

We report on a study of optically induced transient infrared reflectivity at 10.6 μm of a GaAs wafer. The basic characteristics and the photogenerated plasma behavior of the reflection switch are discussed. A model is proposed to explain the observed time resolved and integrated reflectivity. Here, diffusion and a two body recombination mechanism whose rate is taken to be dependent on the carrier density, are used to model the plasma evolution. The experimental observations are found to be consistent with the model

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; high-speed optical techniques; optical switches; reflectivity; semiconductor plasma; semiconductor switches; 10.6 mum; GaAs; carrier density; diffusion; infrared reflection switch; integrated reflectivity; optically induced transient infrared reflectivity; photogenerated plasma; plasma evolution; reflection switch; time resolved reflectivity; two body recombination mechanism; ultrafast plasma dynamics; Free electron lasers; Gallium arsenide; Optical modulation; Optical pulse generation; Optical sensors; Plasmas; Reflection; Semiconductor lasers; Switches; Ultrafast optics;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/3.391094

Filename

391094